Hamilton's 2012 finale farewell

LONDON, England - Lewis Hamilton will say an emotional farewell to McLaren in Brazil as a winner, even if Formula 1's season-ending race is all about someone else taking the title.

The 2008 world champion hopes to celebrate one last triumph before heading off to Mercedes as well as his success at the US Grand Prix, should that be his last win with McLaren.

Hamilton won F1's last visit to the States in 2007. ONE LAST HURRAH

He now heads to Interlagos, where he won his 2008 championship, for one last hurrah for a team he has been a part of since it started backing him as a promising 14-year-old.

Hamilton's father Anthony said: "I think the last race in Brazil is going to be a really emotional sendoff for us all, team and driver and family.

"The Hamiltons are synonymous with McLaren and vice-versa and I think we are all going to miss each other, but to be honest I think it's nice to go off to greener pastures and see whether you can develop something new in your life."

Hamilton delivered sensationally at the US GP, passing Red Bull's championship leader Sebastian Vettel to take the win and deliver the boost his team had been looking for.

Hamilton, who is out of a title chase that now only involves Vettel and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, said: "We were talking of just getting a win in, that would be the icing on the cake.

"Even if we go to the next one and it's not spectacular, at least we have this one. But of course I'm going to go to the next race hoping we can do it again."

GREAT CHALLENGE

The victory was Hamilton's fourth of the season and he could have also won in Singapore and Abu Dhabi had he not been sidelined by mechanical failures.

The problem in Abu Dhabi in November 2012, when Hamilton was leading confortably, was a hard blow for the team.

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: "It's been brilliant for the team and we needed it, we really did need that one together.

"We faltered a little bit this year, we've had a quick car and we haven't done as good a job as we expect of ourselves. These things are really important to the team and we are going to go into Brazil on a high and make sure we can do a good job there," he added.

Hamilton will soon be turning his focus on Mercedes, a team who looked woefully uncompetitive in the US and whose sole success since they took over the title-winning Brawn GP outfit in 2009 came in 2012.

The McLaren ace says that it could be a while before he wins again but his father said there were no regrets.

Anthony Hamilton said: "It's nice to have challenges in life.

"One of our greatest ever challenges was coming from a council house to Formula 1. I never ever believed that would happen to us. Then Lewis becomes a Formula One champion and now we are almost rebuilding the challenge."